Join us for Blessing of the Backpacks

Dear Friends,

By this time next week, most everyone will be back in school, which means it’s time for Blessing of the Backpacks this Sunday! This is our annual back-to-school service with prayers and blessings for all teachers, administrators, and students.

Students heading back to school should bring their backpacks. They can be placed up by the altar prior to the start of the service, where they will be blessed individually during worship and sprinkled with holy water.

As much as going back to school is a time of excitement for kids (and their parents), you’ve surely seen in the news how hard things are for schools and teachers right now. The country is in the midst of a teacher shortage, exacerbated by low pay, hard, hard work, and being the landing place for all sorts of parental and social demands and angst. Oh, and the pandemic has magnified just about every behavioral, emotional and academic problem they face!

We’re so blessed to have many teachers, former teachers, and school staff at St. Andrew’s — and our brothers and sisters need our prayers. They have a critically important job that we all depend on them to do well.

And maybe you know a family with some kids, or maybe you know a teacher or two, who don’t have a place to pray for them and bless them as they head into another year. Would you invite them to church with you this Sunday? They may need the grace of God offered at a place like St. Andrew’s more than you know.

In Christ,
Fr. Andrew